ROCK singer turned environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey visited Basingstoke with Luke Murphy to call for cleaner waterways.

The former lead singer of The Undertones visited the town on Thursday, June 27, as part of his 'Stop the s*** Show' tour, calling for water companies to stop dumping sewage in rivers and beaches.

The campaigner, who is the president of Labour's environment campaign, Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA), met Basingstoke's Labour candidate Mr Murphy to discuss the pollution in the River Loddon.

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Luke Murphy with Feargal SharkeyLuke Murphy with Feargal Sharkey (Image: Labour Basingstoke)

Mr Sharkey said: "At a time when people are struggling simply to make ends meet, Thames Water has now applied through the regulator to put up local bills by 58 per cent. This is one of the rarest rivers on earth, there are only 225 on the entire planet.

“These are things that should be treasured, conserved, loved, and protected, yet even the River Loddon is not in good overall environmental health.

"Thames Water, one of the greatest protagonists, as an industry last year dumped 4.6 million hours of sewage into England’s rivers last year.”

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Mr Murphy added: "This Conservative Government has wilfully turned a blind eye to corruption at the heart of the water industry, and sadly we're seeing evidence of that here in Basingstoke's own River Loddon.

"We have toxic sewage destroying our natural environment, damaging tourism, and putting kids’ health at risk - it's the embodiment of 14 years of Tory mismanagement.

"Labour will put failing water companies under special measures to force them to clean up their own mess."

A spokesperson for Thames Water said: "While all discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed to work in this way, to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes.  

“We know how much rivers are loved and enjoyed by everyone, and we are committed to seeing our waterways thrive, but we can’t do it alone. Farming, industry, livestock and more extreme weather also play a role in river health.

"We have published plans to upgrade 250 of our sites across the region including at our Basingstoke sewage treatment works. At the vast majority of our sites, this will increase capacity and reduce the number of necessary discharges.

“More investment is needed across the entire sector, as infrastructure ages and demand on it increases. That’s why we’ve asked for increased investment in the next regulatory cycle between 2025-2030.

"We’ve put transparency at the heart of what we do, and we were the first water company to publish a real time data map on our website, which in its first year has been viewed over 350,000 times.”